1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in brake devices for use with wheelchairs, and more particularly, to wheelchairs and brake devices used therewith which permit a brake arm to be shifted between locking and non-locking positions and having a brake tab carried thereby which is moveable to a position where it is out of the way of the hand of a user of the wheelchair.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, there have been substantial changes in the design and construction of wheelchairs. Previously, wheelchairs were constructed of a box-like frame and normally adapted for transport of people with lower body disabilities. More recently, it has been realized that people with lower body disabilities, such as parapalegics, can engage in many sports activities, such as tennis, wheelchair racing, basketball and the like. Newer wheelchair designs, as for example, the wheelchairs of the type taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,540 to Jeffrey P. Minnebraker, now have a lower center of gravity and are designed for quick movements. Further, these newer wheelchairs, which are of lighter weight, enable one to not only start and stop the wheelchair quickly, but to move the wheelchair at a relatively quick pace. This requires the hands of the user to constantly engage the hand ring on, typically, the rear wheels of the wheelchair for propelling the same. Since the user must constantly and quickly engage the hand rings to start and stop and propel the wheelchair, there must be no obstruction in the way which might contact the user's hand.
Generally, most wheelchairs provide a simple brake mechanism in which a brake tab is designed to be shifted into frictional locking engagement with a wheel of the wheelchair, as for example, a rear wheel, when a lever arm on the brake mechanism is shifted into a locking position. The tab can be removed from engagement with the wheel by shifting the hand engageable lever to another position when it is desired to permit the wheelchair to be propelled. In either case, the locking tab on the brake mechanism is typically located in a plane which is perpendicular to the plane of rotation of the wheel. Consequently, while the brake mechanism is desirable for use in normal transport, it may create an interference when the user of the wheelchair attempts to use the latter in sports activities, since it creates an obstruction and potentially resultant injury to the user of the wheelchair.